INSEAD: Can you describe your normal working day?

Guillaume de Saint-Bon: I receive a report every morning giving me details and updates on cases or crisis situations that have developed or happened overnight. My day will depend on this report, so it is extremely difficult to plan ahead. I must be ready at any moment to stop everything and leave immediately if required. Hence, I am never without my passport and the required permanent visas for countries in my area.

When cases or situations are complicated, I step in immediately. For example, different customers from different countries being involved in the same accident. In a situation such as this, I take the leading role to coordinate our strengths. A conference call with our alarm centre and medical teams on the ground takes place as soon as possible, so that we are all fully aware of the situation. A plan of action is then prepared and implemented immediately.

If the daily report doesn't have any situations that need my immediate action, I have the time to reflect on recent crisis situations in order to improve our procedures and tools. For example, as we heavily rely on aircraft for our operations, I try to spend a few hours each day developing our network of plane providers. I regularly contact my local correspondents for feedback on operators in their countries. I also use this time to prepare contracts and organise auditing for our customers which is carried out by independent companies.

Managing people is extremely important in any crisis situation. Sometimes we have non-stop work for quite a few days, so the pressure is intense. In all situations team management and coordination is key and it is essential that our teams remain quiet, in turn keeping our customers calm and confident.

INSEAD: Can you give an example of one of the crisis situations that you have been involved in?

GDSB: Yes, I can give you a few. We managed a medical crisis which happened when a plane crashed in Phuket, Thailand, in September 2007. There were 88 casualties. I left immediately for Phuket where our medical team was already on the ground. We needed to identify our customers to make sure that they were evacuated without delay and in the best possible conditions to the closest Centre of Medical Excellence which was in either Bangkok or Singapore. We had difficulties in establishing the definite list of passengers in order to identify our clients. Further difficulties were encountered in finding out which hospitals they had already been taken to and then to convince the doctors to release them. Only at this stage we could organise their medical evacuation - which is actually the simple part!

Another crisis situation involving security happened in Chad, Africa, when chaos and violence broke out in February this year. A major Chinese oil and gas company asked us to evacuate its 188 employees. We had many security and logistic issues in this particular operation, such as finding quickly the required planes and bringing them in a troubled area, making it very complicated. It also happened to be at the time of the Chinese New Year and our client wanted their employees home before celebrations started. We actually managed to get everyone home by 11.45pm - 15 minutes before the Chinese New Year!

INSEAD: Are there any ongoing situations that you are working on?

GDSB: Yes, I am responsible for the delivery of special medical and security services that we have sold to our customers for the Olympics in Beijing to be held in August this year. I am working closely with our marketing team in China to make sure that we are logistically fully prepared to meet, or even exceed our customers' expectations.

INSEAD: What are the most important professional qualities required for your position?

GDSB: An overall vision and to consider all possibilities in all situations is essential. Being a leader is an absolute must and as a leader it is important to listen, understand and be open to innovative (and sometimes unconventional!) solutions. I have to remain flexible and open-minded in all situations, dealing with different individuals from different cultures and often with an impressive operation experience.

INSEAD: Do you feel job satisfaction?

GDSB: International SOS works on real cases, saving lives. In all crisis situations, everyone works with this in mind, fully committing themselves to their work. We regularly receive letters of gratitude from patients which is extremely rewarding. I am very stimulated by my work due to the urgency and pressure of each very different situation.

INSEAD: How much free time do you have?

GDSB: I use to practise sport daily, now I can only run in the dark at night or extremely early in the mornings. So, to answer your question - not a lot of free time!

INSEAD: Immediately after graduating from INSEAD, you co-founded Helit Air (the first private helicopter company in Singapore). How did the EMBA influence the structure/planning of this new venture?

GDSB: When applying for INSEAD, my goal was to set up a helicopter company, somewhere in Asia. INSEAD helped me to refine my ideas, make them more concrete and get the required business perspective on what was initially just an idea. On top of this and very importantly, INSEAD gave me access to an incredibly various and skilled network, which ultimately was the key to success.

I heavily promoted my project within the INSEAD community, feeling that I would receive some support or complementary strength. It finally paid off, when during a dinner with Professor Phil Anderson at his house, he told me about an alumnus, Cyril Cossé MBA '02D who had a similar project in Singapore a few years before. Phil advised me to discuss this with Patrick Turner, our well known professor of entrepreneurship, who in turn introduced me to Cyril... the match was immediate.

Cyril had won the INSEAD Roland Berger prize for his business plan in 2004 and was looking for a complementary partner, with concrete aviation and operations experiences. Things then went quite quickly. I decided to take the plunge, to relocate to Singapore and launch the venture with him!

INSEAD: Is there any reason why you chose to take the EMBA programme at INSEAD? Did you apply to any other business schools?

GDSB: I had several goals when I decided to take an EMBA. Professionally, I wanted to find a way of leveraging my very concrete experience in logistics and management and not to 're-create myself' totally. I was therefore looking for the complementary technical tools to reinforce my capacities and be able to use them in the business world.

On the personal side, I felt a strong need for 'cultural immersion' to open my mind to other cultures and ways of tackling issues. I also wanted to move to Asia and participate in the economic boom. With all of these points in mind, I looked for a world class diploma to give credit to my unconventional profile. I put these criteria in a pot, shook it up for a while, poured it into a crystal ball … and saw that my only solution was INSEAD in Singapore!

I did apply to some other business schools in Europe, Australia and the US, and was admitted by most of them, but my first choice was INSEAD.

INSEAD: What do you value the most from having taken the EMBA programme at INSEAD?

GDSB: Firstly, I have learnt to understand my strengths and weaknesses (internal knowledge). The specific style of leadership that I had developed in the French Army had to be adapted to match my prospective Asian and civilian business environments. I accepted the gap on certain points (a painful exercise!), saw the need to reinforce some others and have been working to improve my style and behaviour ever since. It's a difficult task, but obviously it is working!

Secondly, the EMBA gave me the ability to better understand my professional environment (external knowledge) and influence it. Identifying the roles of the different departments at International SOS ('Who does what out there?'), feeling their interconnection ('How to move this project forward, gathering everybody's energy and capacity?') and sensing the forces moving them ('What is that person’s interest?') helps me everyday to position myself as an ally and get support.

Finally, the technical tools I received are of great importance, enabling me to be more efficient in my day to day work.

INSEAD: Are you in contact with the alumni network?

GDSB: Of course! The alumni community has always been extremely supportive, especially in my previous entrepreneurial experiences. Some alumni have become very close friends - just to mention a few, Cyril Cossé MBA '02D, as my partner at Helit Air, James Copinger-Symes MBA '02D, our Singapore National Alumni Association President and Arnaud Granger MBA '03J, my investment banker who, one day when I am rich, will manage my fortune :)

I was also a committee member of the National Alumni Association in Singapore, who do a fantastic job in connecting alumni and creating a lively social and professional network. I would like to have more time to spend on these activities, but due to my work load, I am not very available. However, when I am in Singapore, I never miss their events.